She came from a sheltered Cuban home and has made it big in the money world. Miami High alumna Ms. Miriam Lopez is President of Coral Gables-based Marquis Bank.

A Sagittarius born on November 28^th, 1950, in Havana, Cuba, Ms. Lopez traveled to Miami with her family when she was nine. She attended Citrus Grove Elementary and Citrus Grove Jr. High before graduating a Stingaree with the Class of ’68.

Stingaree C/O ‘68

Ms. Lopez made many memories as a Stingaree. “The interactions with friends in the mornings, as well as the extracurricular activities were fun,” she said.

In high school, Ms. Lopez was very ambitious and goal oriented. She had a 3.3 GPA and was very involved in school. She played on the Lady Stings basketball team. Her favorite subjects were algebra and English.

Mrs. Hoffman was one of her favorite teachers at MHS. “Even though Mrs. Hoffman would always tell me that I would never do anything great, she saw potential in me, and this encouraged me to become better,” said Ms. Lopez.

Her advice to current Miami High students is: “Treasure the fun times, but commit to a solid educational foundation. Knowledge can never be taken from you.”

College Years

She left Miami High thinking she wanted to teach, which is still one of her passions. She even minored in education in college and got her start at Miami-Dade. She later attended The University of Miami and then switched to Barry College. She studied history/economics for undergrad then later went into accounting and business.

Ms. Lopez really valued her independence in college. “Coming from a sheltered Hispanic home, I felt like I was finally able to make my own decisions and have those decisions respected,” she said.

She graduated from Barry in 1972 with a B.A. in accounting, but believes that all of her classes helped prepare her to be a bank president.

“When studying to be a teacher, you take a lot of psychology classes,” she said. “These, along with an accounting background, gave me the opportunity to understand financial needs.”

She also believes that she got wiser in college, learning how to listen, interact with, and value others.

“One lesson learned is that sometimes in high school you take for granted the value of education and educators,” she said.

Hard Work Pays Off

After college, she worked for a private family-owned company, and then went back to school in 1973 and got her accounting certificate, which took her a year and a half. In 1976, she started her banking career with Southeast Bank and has continued to have a lot of success in the banking world.

From 1992-98, she worked on the American Bankers Association Community Bankers Council and was part of their executive committee from1995 to 1998.

In 1998, Ms. Lopez worked for the American Bankers Association Banking Advisor Program for a year, where she provided television, radio, and newspaper briefings on Y2K in three different cities.

From 1999 to 2000, she served as chair for the American Bankers Association (ABA) Communications Council, and also held a chair in the Government Relations Council at the Florida Bankers Association.

From 2000-2001, she was the president of the Florida Bankers Association. From 2001 until 2004, she became a member of the Board of Directors of the ABA. Then, from 2004 to 2007, she was a member of Government Relations Council Executive Committee.

Marquis’ President

In 2007, she became the president at Marquis Bank and a director at the Florida Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. She says that the top three skills a bank president must have are leadership, drive and good communication skills.

She has had many mentors in her long career, but she credits legendary Miami businessmen Natan Rok and Manny Medina for helping her get to where she is today.

She’s a leader who knows life won’t always be perfect. “I cannot prevent mistakes,” she said, “but I can put controls in place that minimize them. I accept mistakes, take responsibility, and learn from the experience. I learn more from my mistakes than I will ever learn from my achievements.”

At Marquis, Ms. Lopez leads a team of extremely qualified bankers, and together they share a common vision and have the same dedication to South Florida. As president, she supervises the lending activity of the bank. She says that the best part of being president is making a difference in the community by providing financial opportunities and helping others meet their financial needs.

To an outside observer, Ms. Lopez seems to have had a lot of success in her career, but to her, success is not a moment in time, but a lifetime of dedication. “I am still working 10 hours a day to become successful,” said Ms. Lopez, who adds that success is doing what you love and getting paid for it.

Her work day starts around 7:45 a.m. with a review of all daily reports. A lot of time is spent with existing or potential clients either in her office or at their place of business. Meetings are held most days except for Wednesday when she typically spends the day visiting clients and the bank’s two branches. After the bank closes, reports are read, requests for loans are reviewed, discussed, and approved. She then answers emails and calls.

Even though she is satisfied in her line of work now, Ms. Lopez said she would have gone to law school if she could do it all over again. “Law school teaches you how to communicate as well as how to think methodically,” she said. “Fortunately for me, my son and daughter-in-law are both lawyers.”

Bank Player by Day, Family Woman by Night

Ms. Miriam Lopez has two kids, Peter, 39, and Michael, 34. She met her husband, Pedro, in Miami High in 1965 and they got married in 1972. “We’ve been happily married ever since,” she said.

She is most grateful for her family, friends, and health, but she wishes she could share more time with the people she loves. Her favorite things to do are reading, traveling and meeting new people.

If she could meet one person from history, it would be Benjamin Franklin because he is a genius and inventor and he had spectacular business acumen.

In 10-20 years, she says she sees herself being retired and joyful. And for anyone who wants to follow her career path, she said, “Always play hard and work harder.”